I am a Technophile

_absolutely_free_photos_original_photos_complicated-mainboard-3264x2448_28382I’ve been a technophile as long as I can remember.  I think it started in the second grade when third graders came to our class and did a science demonstration with magnets.  I’ve been hooked on science ever since.  My first exposure to computers was in junior high.  For someone my age, that was a very, very early start.  In high school, I took electronics and computer classes.  In college, I continued with electronics and computers, but switched to business and computers.  I built my first microcomputer in 1978, subscribed to Byte magazine with issue #1,  bought my first cell phone early in the game, and have been a DirecTV subscriber almost since the beginning.

I graduated college on a Saturday and the following Monday, I was working on my first computer job, a COBOL programmer for a company that provided computer services to hospitals.  After a couple of years I started a new job with a newspaper, developing a database of newspaper subscribers.  When I started working for the company, they didn’t even know who the subscribers were!  I moved into systems keeping the IBM mainframe going and eventually became responsible for the operating systems, databases, networking, and support software. The system became quite expensive to operate.  The company spent $20M to save $200K per year, and that didn’t include the cost of increasing the support staff from two to five.  The company eventually migrated to DEC Alpha servers which was bought out by Compaq, which was bought out by HP.  I helped maintain the Alpha servers, along with a smattering of Windows, LINUX, and Sun servers.

So which is best?  In the computer business, as far as I’m concerned, there is no “best”.  I’m server agnostic.  That means I’m not an advocate for Windows, nor do I speak against it. Windows is terrific, as long as it is kept in its place.  Same for Linux and the others.  I have vehemently advocated against Windows for some applications while building Windows for other applications and not batting an eye.

I am a proud technogeek.  Whenever I can afford it, I always want to buy the latest technology.  I buy the latest toys sometimes even when I can’t afford it.  I set up this website as a forum for my opinions, political, technical, and otherwise.  Keep visiting, you will be hearing plenty from me.

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